Broom and Board

by Sara Bourgeois

  “Thanks,” I said. “It’s a lot to take in.”

  “I can imagine. From what I understand about Hattie’s family, they are very hands-off with this place. I’m not surprised she just threw you the keys and ran off. This place is an investment property for them and nothing more.”

  “I guess that means we don’t have to be here with them micromanaging us.”

  “Oh, not at all. Lucy only came here because Cassidy took off with that guy. There weren’t any VIPs staying in the hotel, so she canceled most of the reservations just so she wouldn’t have to do anything. Paid for all of those guests to stay at a bed and breakfast one town over. Told them all there was a water main break so she wouldn’t damage the inn’s reputation. Just so she didn’t have to do any work here. That was two days ago. I’m surprised she let anyone check in last night, but I volunteered to do it. As you can see, she split town as soon as she could.”

  “You checked the guests from last night in?”

  “Yeah, Cassidy cross-trained me on some of the innkeeper duties just in case.”

  “Well, thank you,” I said.

  “Not a problem. If you have any questions, just ask. For now, I’m going to start cleaning the rooms. On days like this when there aren’t many guests leaving, I do deep cleanings of the common areas. You’ll be able to find me around.”

  “Okay. Well, as soon as the last guests are gone, I’m going to go to the grocery store. No offense to Cassidy, but I feel like the breakfasts we serve should be a little more high-end than what I found in the kitchen. Nothing wrong with frozen waffles, but the people are paying too much for these rooms for me to continue to serve them that.”

  “What are you going to do with all of the food in the kitchen now?” Jessica asked in horror. “Please tell me you’re not going to throw it all away.”

  “I hadn’t thought about that. I guess I do need to figure out what to do with it all. I suppose I should just give it away. I could call the food bank in the city. Or do you know anyone who wants it? You can have as much of it as you want.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh, yeah. Take whatever of that food you want. I’m going to restock today.”

  “If you’re sure, I’ll take it all,” Jessica said. “I can have my brother over here in ten minutes to clean it all out for you, ma’am. He’s out of work right now, and between the two of us, that food would hold us for a while. We could fill our deep freezers. The kids will go nuts for all those waffles, and my husband loves those sausages. Cassidy always let me take whatever was leftover for the day home with me.”

  “That would be great. Thank you so much, Jessica. Tell him I’ll pay him for his time doing the hauling too,” I said. “And call me Brighton. You don’t need to call me ma’am.”

  “Okay. I’m going to call him now and then I’ll get to work on my rooms.”

  I made a mental note to always make sure there were some leftovers for Jessica to take home to her family. I was doing well at that point, but there were some times in my life that having some food to take home from work would have meant I didn’t go to bed hungry.

  Considering how much work she did at the inn, I also needed to find a way to give her some of that ten grand I was making to push a few buttons and snap my fingers. It only seemed fair, but I didn’t want it to look like a handout. Because it wasn’t. Keeping The Coventry Inn clean was a huge part of the guest experience, and I doubted Jessica was being paid what her services were worth. I could change that, though. I was in charge.

  By the time the last guest was gone, Jessica’s brother, Connor, had cleaned out the freezers in the kitchen. I paid him for his time and told Jessica I’d be back from the store as soon as I could.

  “You don’t have to rush,” she said. “Place is empty until at least three. If anything comes up, I can handle it, or I’ll call you.”

  It was mid-morning when I got to Mann’s. As I parked my car and walked inside, I tried not to think about what had happened there. It was a mental exercise I had to do every time I filled up my car. Sometimes, I contemplated driving one town over, but I told myself that was silly. Each time I went, it got a little easier not to think about the murder or that the killer was still out there. Plus, I was giving my money to a local business.

  The store wasn’t busy given the time of day. There were a few retirees shopping and a couple of mothers with young children in tow. The kids were munching on the free cookies Mann had at the door to help keep them happy while their moms shopped. It was a nice touch.

  It didn’t take me long to buy my groceries. I basically bought the same things that had already been there but fresh versions. I got eggs, pancake and waffle mix, real maple syrup, bacon and sausage from the meat counter, and a ton of fresh fruit. I’d need to come back for new fruit every couple of days unless I could schedule some sort of delivery. I made a mental note to talk to Bob about that.

  I looked at my cart and wondered if there was anything else I could do to step things up a bit. Then it hit me. I’d always loved chicken and waffles, as long as I didn’t have to make it, before I came to Coventry. Whenever I had the chance to go out to breakfast, it’s what I always ordered. Not that it was often, but it was still a favorite.

  It wasn’t something I would have tried to pull off in my old life, but as a witch, I had the confidence to give it a try. Fried chicken was a difficult dish, but not if I had magic on my side. I had the guy working the meat counter get me some fresh chicken, and I stopped in the baking aisle for flour and cornmeal before I made my way to the registers.

  Chapter Two

  Things were quiet back at the inn. I got the groceries put away and then went off to find Meri. He was busying himself stalking Jessica as she polished the tables in the breakfast area. She didn’t even notice him until I walked into the room and she turned around.

  “That your cat?” she asked.

  “He is indeed. His name is Meri,” I said. “He seems to like you.”

  “Well, hello, Meri,” Jessica said with a smile. “A pleasure to meet such a handsome fella.”

  Meri just swished his tail and continued to watch her. I was willing to bet it was killing him that he couldn’t say anything to her. I found the situation greatly amusing, and I was happy that she accepted his presence in the hotel.

  “You don’t think people will mind him, do you?” I asked.

  “Oh, heck, no. A big black cat at the haunted inn. The guests are going to eat that up. I’m surprised Lucy didn’t require it before.”

  I’d almost forgotten about the haunted inn thing. But, if that was the big selling point, then Meri would fit right in. I’d stayed at Hattie’s once back when it was Hattie’s place. I couldn’t remember anything particularly haunted happening, but it was hard to keep track of such things in a place like Coventry.

  There had been the thing with the window, but I chalked that up to my witch powers emerging. Especially since it had happened both at the inn and at Hangman’s House.

  “So do you believe that stuff?” I asked Jessica. “That this place is haunted? You really think there are ghosts here?”

  “Oh, do I ever.”

  I debated whether I should ask her to tell me more. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe her. I knew ghosts were real, but did I want to reinforce whatever she’d seen or experienced at the inn? After all, she had to work there. The last thing either of us needed was for her to be afraid. I didn’t have to ask her to elaborate. She began her stories while I was debating.

  “So, this one time,” she began, “I set my key down on my cart. I know I did. I always do. I went into the room to clean it, and when I came out, the key was gone.”

  “Someone could have taken it,” I said.

  “That’s the thing. I was the only one here. Cassidy was gone doing some errand and all of the guests had checked out.” Jessica’s eyes were wide.

  “There could have been a guest that forgot something in their room and came back. Maybe they just helpe
d themselves to the key.”

  “That’s the thing, though. We found the key a couple of weeks later. Hattie’s stuff is in boxes in the basement. The two rooms that were originally what she rented are storage now. The key was in one of her boxes, and those boxes were kept behind a locked door.”

  “Why were you going through the boxes of Hattie’s things?” I asked.

  “Oh, Lucy had called and asked us to look through Hattie’s things and find something. Some old broach. Lucy took it with her on one of her short visits,” Jessica said. “It had diamonds on it. Probably the only thing of value Hattie owned besides this house.”

  “Was that it? Just the key?” I asked.

  “Nope. Stuff is weird here all of the time. Creaks and scratching noises. Sometimes I’ll go into the kitchen or one of the bathrooms and a faucet is on.”

  “But someone could have just left a faucet on.”

  “I would have heard it when I got close to the room,” Jessica said. “I could be standing outside of the room and not hear the water on, and I would have heard the water on, and when I walk into the room, the water is on.”

  “That is interesting,” I offered.

  “Stick around. You’ll see,” Jessica said with a knowing smile. “There have also been several occasions when guests would make noise complaints about the room next to them. They’d hear loud thumps, arguing, or even screaming. The problem was that those rooms were not occupied. One night they even got a deputy out here to check things out, but the room was totally empty.”

  Again, I had to remind myself that the inn being haunted was supposed to be one of the main selling points. I’d have to train myself not to explain it away. Creaks and faucets being left on by forgetful guests and employees was what the people were paying big money for. Not so much the screaming, but ghosts were ghosts. Jessica was good at telling those stories without sounding like she’d practiced, but I had to wonder if she had.

  The evening’s guests were a half hour early, but I was ready. They’d arrived on a bus chartered by their company, and quite a few of them were already tipsy. A couple were three sheets to the wind.

  I didn’t know that major corporations chartered party buses for their employees because it was either that, or someone had seriously misunderstood the point of a team-building company retreat.

  The guests checking into the bed and breakfast weren’t ready to get closer the fellow employees to help the company grow more profitable. Oh, no, they were acting like a bunch of adults who had been set loose on spring break. I overheard several conversations about finding a place to party. Good luck with that in Coventry. I thought.

  But one by one, I got them all checked into their rooms. Jessica had been ready to leave for the day, but when she saw the state of some of the guests, she stuck around to help. I got them their room keys, and she escorted them up to their room to make sure they didn’t fall and hurt themselves. I appreciated the help avoiding a lawsuit during my first week on the job.

  Fate had saved the best for last for me. The CEO of the company, Jack Maynard, had stood back and waited until everyone else had checked in. He sauntered up to the counter and smiled a megawatt only-could-be-veneers smile at me. He was in his sixties with tan skin and full head of dark hair that I suspected was a dye job. Everything about him screamed fake. It was as if the fake hair, teeth, tan, and smile were just symptoms of his artificial nature oozing out. He was definitely a charmer, but it didn’t work on me. I could pick up on how off he was right away.

  “Did you get the stuff?” he leaned across the desk and whispered conspiratorially.

  Forced teaming.

  It was a technique psychopaths used to get you to go against your intuition. The idea was to make you feel like you were in on something together, but it was completely artificial. I’d read this book on fear recently that had been recommended in an online book club I’d lurked in for a couple of months. Anyway, the book was good, and it helped me pick up on what Jack was doing right away.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said flatly, but with a smile. “I have your room key ready to go.” I slid it across the desk to him.

  “My wife and I have stayed here a couple of times before we decided to book the corporate retreat here,” he said. “There’s a candy shop in town that makes the best little licorice swirls. I called ahead and spoke with the owner. She assured me that there would be a welcome package here for me that included a box of those swirls.”

  Great, I thought. Lucy had promised this guy candy from Prue’s candy shop and then not even told me about it. He was not the kind of man who was accustomed to being told no either. That much was obvious.

  “I’m sorry. I was not informed of that, but I can call over to Prue’s and see if she has any.”

  The smile faded from his face and his eyes turned turbulent. It was as if he’d been wearing a mask and it slipped off. He slammed his hand down on the desk.

  “I knew this would happens” he spat. “Nobody can ever do anything right.”

  “I’m sorry, sir,” I said, but I had half a mind to kick the jerk out. Gunner would have gotten a kick out of dragging his spoiled white-collar behind out of the inn. I couldn’t do that though. He was the big boss and responsible for all the business we’d just taken in.

  Jack’s face turned red, and it was obvious he was about to blow his top. Before I could say anything else, Jessica appeared from the breakfast area with a box from Prue’s.

  “Sorry for the misunderstanding, sir. Lucy left in a hurry the other day because of a family emergency, and it must have slipped her mind that these were in the pantry for you. She completely forgot to tell Brighton,” she said.

  Jessica handed him the box, and all of the red drained from Jack’s face. His shoulders relaxed, and his mask went back on. He was back to his old charming self in under five seconds.

  “Well, everyone makes mistakes. No harm done.” He tapped the plastic room key on the desk three times. “Thank you, ladies.”

  And with that, he was gone. The room was lighter as soon as he left, and I realized how heavy the air felt with him around. It was as if his fake smile and charming demeanor were a cover for the fact that being around him felt wrong. He’d learned to overcompensate for the way people felt in his presence.

  “Don’t go in his room alone if he’s in there,” I said. “And don’t let him corner you anywhere.”

  “You think he’s dangerous?”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t want either of us finding out the hard way.”

  “I’m going to go for the day, if that’s all right. Unless you need something else?”

  “Of course. You stayed late to help me out, and I appreciate that so much. I don’t need anything else, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said.

  “Hey, can you have your brother come by tomorrow? There are some things around the grounds that need to be done, and I’m not sure who else to ask.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, it would help me out a lot. He’d be doing me a huge favor.”

  “Oh, of course,” Jessica said. “Thank you, Brighton.”

  As she walked away, I cast a protection spell on her. It seemed like the least I could do.

  The first thing that hit me the next morning when I came into work was the smell. At first, I’d thought that I’d left some of the meat I’d bought the day before out on the counter all night.

  “Brighton, don’t freak out when you turn on the light,” Meri’s voice came from at my feet.

  With that, I knew I didn’t want to turn on the light, but standing there in the dark wasn’t going to fix anything. So I flipped the switch, and gasped.

  What Meri had seen was Jack Maynard lying dead on the kitchen floor. He was sort of purple, and his face was frozen in a mask of horror.

  I backed out the door and Meri followed. As soon as I was outside, I took out my cell phone and called dispatch. “Yeah, Sherry, This is Brighton L
ongfield. I’m at The Coventry Inn. It used to be Hattie’s place. I need you to get Gunner up and send him over here.”

  “Oh, no,” Sherry said with a chuckle, “you got another dead body?” she teased.

  “Actually…”

  “Oh,” Shery said. “Oh, sorry. Okay, I’ll call him right away.”

  “Thank you, Sherry,” I said.

  “Sorry about that, Brighton.”

  “It’s okay, Sherry. I didn’t expect it either.”

  I waited on the back steps with Meri and hoped that none of the other guests got up and found him before Gunner could get the place taped off. The body was in the kitchen, so none of the other guests should have gone in there. But Jack had. I reasoned that figuring out why might help me find out who had killed him.

  “I need to serve breakfast,” I said as Gunner got out of the car.

  “That’s not going to happen,” he responded.

  “I assume you’re going to tape the area off. I don’t think any of the other guests are up yet, but I wouldn’t want one of them wandering into the kitchen.”

  “I’ll secure the area,” he said.

  I watched as Gunner went around to the back of the sheriff’s cruiser and retrieved some yellow crime scene tape. He put some across the back door before going inside.

  A few minutes later, he reappeared at the back door. “I’ve taped off the kitchen and dining room area. I left the front desk area open for you. I’m going to call in the deputies to help question these people. They can’t leave until I talk to them.”

  “Can I leave?” I asked.

  He cocked and eyebrow at me. “Why?”

  “Because I can’t make breakfast and serve it in the dining area. I’m going to run over to Bubble & Brew and pick up pastries and some of those big jugs of coffee they use for catering. If you’re going to keep people here and question them, they’ll be a lot more receptive if I at least try and feed them.”

  “Go ahead,” he said with a tip of his hat. “Thank you.”